I wanted more than one random image to appear on my sidebar, which was the default.
Starting out I did no know how many, though I finally settled on having a block of 9 images. I chose to use Lightbox v1.
Firstly a couple of changes to mygallery.php:
- Find:
function myrandompic($myamount=1)
Change the 1 to a 9 (or to any number according to the number of images you want)
- For some reason the original script did not include Alt & Title Text within the lightbox view of the sidebar random image.
This can be made possible by including title="'.$result->alttitle.'". Scroll down until you find the comment: // return picture and then rel="lightbox"
This then make the line of code read:
$myhyperlink_open='<a rel="lightbox" href="'.$myurl.$result->name.'/'.$result->picturepath.'" title="'.$result->alttitle.'">';
Secondly a tweak to the css:
.myrandompic {
text-align: center;
display: inline;
}.myrandompic img {
height: 52px;
width: 52px;
}.myrandompic a img {
border: 2px solid #ffffff;
padding: 1px;
}.myrandompic a:hover img {
border: 2px solid #CC0000;
padding: 1px;
}
These are the online image tools I have found most useful…
- Snipshot – for simple resizing and cropping it is a breeze to use.
- PXN8 – some useful functions, including a spirit level tool.
- Phixr – a good photo editor, which also allows you to email the photos to friends which could prove useful.
- ImageAuthor – not so easy to crop to specific areas, but has some good basic paintbrush tools, including a colour picker!
There are lots more online image editors, a longer list and a full comparison can be found on the Smiley Cat web design blog.
This site relies heavily on a number of plugins, and I am still looking at ways to accomplish several more features…
-
Newsletter / Guestbook
- Ajax Newsletter by Tiago Pocinho
Now using release 1.0, a newsletter containing post excerpts is sent to subscribers every month.
- Guestbook Generator by Andrew dela Serna
Just a way for people to leave a comment about the site – if only they would.
-
Tags
Simple Tagging by Amaury Balmer
Now tagging everything to provide more related searches and a better structure than using the categories to provide all of the detail.Batch Categories by Rob Miller
This is a godsend to help manage tagging – and also helps with those pesky categories.
-
Comments
- Close Old Posts by Matt Mullenweg
Have set it so that after 150 days comments will automatically close.
- Fuzzy Recent Comments by Denis de Bernardy
A widget plugin to control the display of comments in the sidebar – currently set to show the last 5 comments.
-
Spam
- Akismet by Matt Mullenweg
Was installed by default with WordPress. It works brilliantly and is capturing spam left, right and centre – no need for another spam plugin.
Hashcash by Elliott Back
I was going to use a capatch based system, but then I stumbled upon Hashcash which looked like a more preferable way to stop spambots.
-
Sidebar
Sidebar widget by Automattic IncExecutable PHP widget by Otto
This is the way most of the items on the sidebar are included, formed by snippets of code – either direct WordPress code, or from plugins.Cloudy by Chris Compton
This one might not stay for long, but currently I like the way it dynamically generates a word cloud based on blog content – it is a neat way of searching too. Removed May 2007 – with increasing content it was just not working as well as I liked, possibly because there was little difference between the most frequent word and the least.- Genki Announcement by Genkisan
Can be implemented anywhere on a page using
<?php genki_announcement(); ?>
When needed to announce say work in progress or a major change I will probably use it at the top of the sidebar.
Sideblog by Kates Gasis
I had tried to use Twitter but just did not get on with it, so looked into using Asides. This widget fitted the bill perfectly and no need to delve into the code. Using Postie I can email (even via sms) an update, all I need do is ensure I file it under the right category.- WP-dTree By Christopher Hwang.
The sidebar is getting full of content, this seems a neat idea to collapse some of it into a meaningful tree based system. A navigation tree for displaying wordpress post archives based on dtree. It can generate archive trees based on a monthly or yearly basis.
-
Images
- Inline Google Maps by Avi Alkalay
So I wanted to show an image and location of where I am travelling – this plugin is perfect. Loads of features and options to choose from so I detailed out a couple of pages to show the code for a simple map, and a more complex one.
- Geo Mashup by Dylan Kuhn
Having mastered a way to include a map that related to a post, I then started looking for a map that would display where posts originated or were referenced – and then I found this excellent and easy to use plugin. I also looked at Flagr, but this integrated much better.
myGallery by Thomas Boley
I was struggling to find an image system I linked until I came across myGallery almost by accident – I think it is superb. Lightbox is integrated with it so no need for a separate lightbox plugin.myflash by Alex Rabe
Primarily used to create the rolling header, though I am sure it will come in useful to display slideshows on post pages.
Alex is also developing the next generation of gallery, which I hope to implement in the fullness of time when it is out of Alpha and Beta.WP_Identicon by Scott Sherrill-Mix
I was looking at a way of making comments more colourful without having random user images – I think this is a great way of generating icons for each user. Based on the ideas of Don Park.IImage Panorama by Martin Chlupac
In the age of digital cameras is very easy to create 360° panoramas in your computer. You can use software that you have got with your camera or Photoshop or AutoStitch (recommended) – but the question is: How to present these images on the web? This is the answer!
# width and height
# start - starting angle of view (-180..180)
# speed - "speed" of rotation (-360..360)
# inside - shows inside menu (true, false)
# outside - shows outside menu (true, false)
# images - outside menu is made of images/buttons (true, false)
# title - shows the title of the image
<panorama width="400" height="200" start="-145" speed="0.7" inside="false" outside="true" images="true" title="Go Go Go">
<img src="http://someaddress/image.jpg" />
</panorama>- Cricket Moods by Keith “kccricket” Constable
Unfortunately nothing to do with cricket – it is even better, once modified with my own icons, a way to include weather information.
-
Admin
- In Series by Travis Snoozy
Provides controls to allow for next and previous links to connected series, which should prove useful to link up some of the travels into a meaningful series.
Page Category Organiser by Andy Staines - in progress
I was looking for a way to catagorise pages as can be done with posts, have not got this working fully as yet, still work in progress.- Postie by Dirk Elmendorf
Provides a quick and easy way to create posts. Lots of options so I have created a page to use as a quick reference.
Stick Post by olivM
Gives me an added option to highlight an old post while still creating new posts.WP-Sticky by Lester ‘GaMerZ’ Chan
Has more sticky options, and been able to work up some CSS so that sticky posts are highlighted with a pin in the top right corner.Search Everything By Dan Cameron
Searches more than the default, but I wish it would search image alt tags…
I am still working on some features:
Formatting on some of the pages to make the posts clearer and less clutteredRandom image on the sidebarSorting out page catagories and find a way of creating pages as series
Kinda given up on this one, might come back to it sometime. In the meantime I have renamed uncatagorized as pages, so that atleast all pages appear catagorized as “Pages”. The worst that can happen is for a post to sneak through if I have not correctly catagorised it. The one thing that ruins this workround is that if you click on the “Pages” link it shows no posts found :-(.Completing a newsletter function to keep friends up to dateGetting the search functions to return a complete set of data
Images used within the rotating header of the website.
- Center of map
- balloonless marker
<dl title="googlemap;w:100%;h:400">
<dt><a href="http://maps.google.com/?&z=14&ll=-41.204167,174.870329">Center of map</a></dt>
<dt><a href="http://maps.google.com/?&ll=-41.201261,174.8945332">balloonless marker</a></dt>
</dl>
Seen the maps on the site?
Uses the Google Maps plugin for WordPress
The following switches in TITLE, separated by “;†to control the way the map will appear:
- googlemap
Instructs the plugin to transform this link into a Google Map area. If not used, the plugin will not work on the link and you’ll get a plain link to the Google Maps site.
- nocontrols
Renders a map without the zoom controls
- nomarker
Renders a map without the marker with the information balloon.
- w:SIZE_IN_PIXELS and h:SIZE_IN_PIXELS
Defines the size of the map area.
To create the URL:
- http://maps.google.com/?
The base URL
- &z=14
zoom level 0 to 17
- &ll=-41.204167,174.870329
latitude,longitude
- &t=h
=map; with h=hybrid; k=satellite
Results
URL: http://maps.google.com/?&z=14&ll=-41.204167,174.870329&t=h
Using: googlemap
THE MAP
More information on Google Map Parameters can be found here.
